


Dancing with the Shades

by Fyliwion



Series: 30 Kisses [21]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: 30 Kisses Challenge, Character Death, Disguise, F/M, Heartbreak, Love/Hate, Secret Identity, Undercover, Violence/Plunder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:08:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26487700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fyliwion/pseuds/Fyliwion
Summary: Kuroba Kaito died when he was eighteen.
Relationships: Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid/Nakamori Aoko
Series: 30 Kisses [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1713385
Kudos: 26





	Dancing with the Shades

**Author's Note:**

> Have some dramatic angst. It's Tuesday and it's already been a week, so I'm uploading this before I don't have a chance. 
> 
> 30 Kisses Challenge  
> Theme #21: Violence/Pillage/Plunder/Extortion

Kuroba Kaito was dead.

At age 18 he had been pronounced deceased by a young detective named Kudo Shinichi, and his funeral had been held a week later. It had been a perfect day, and the sun shone as bright as ever as the prayers were said over his procession. Kaito would've asked for just that if he’d ever considered what his death might be. 

For Aoko it felt like she was the one the coffin closed on, buried alive with no way to breathe.

KID disappeared.

Even the errant thief refused to give her mind a respite as she rolled over those last moments with her best friend. In place of chaos life for Nakamoris had become normal, so normal that sometimes she wondered if she wasn’t the one who died instead. Time passed and people said it would ease the pain, promised that while it would still hurt it would grow easier. 

It didn’t. 

Aoko went to college, faced her studies and let herself drown in the work. She dated for a while even managed to get engaged sometime after she turned twenty-three, an engagement that lasted less than a month. It was a pipe dream, an irrational plunge that she took with the same type of recklessness that _he_ used to have. 

KID reappeared when she turned twenty-five.

Hakuba called her a week later. They hadn't talked since Kaito's death.

They agreed to meet a little later, Aoko was surprised when Hakuba made it clear that he was not attempting to meet for a date, rather just wished to catch up as old friends. To talk about what had happened and the thief's sudden return.

The bar was quiet, well lit, and posh. 

He had his back turned, his shoulders tight, and when he turned around to greet her his face lit up in a way that caused her breath to catch in her chest. It was a look she never remembered seeing on Hakuba’s face. One that made her heart break. 

It gave way to a strain that Hakuba had never seemed to have, a worry that etched in his brow, and something dark in his eyes. 

But their conversation was at ease, and it was good to have an old friend, even if he reminded her of a different man entirely. 

His lips brushed her hand in a good night, and for a moment she swore there was a flash of blue under a golden stare. 

She didn't bother going to the first heist, nor the second, but the third night she saw something in white pass by her window.

But then Aoko was no stranger to ghosts.

The first rose appeared after the fourth heist, and from then on they appeared with the dawn.

They stopped coming after the tenth.

It was also when she turned on the news to hear that Kaitou KID had been caught.

It was also the only heist they hadn't found on him, and he had informed his audience with all the dramatics ' _It would not be returned'_ while he bowed down gracefully into the cuffs.

She received a call as soon as it aired.

* * *

_"Hello! I'm Kuroba Kaito and what's your name?"_

_White roses._

_Smirks._

_Glances._

_Fingers sliding over her own, eyes bright and shining holding all the trust in the world, and making her understand that if there was anyone in the world who could count as an angel it would be him. A depth of understanding and love that she didn't know existed in the world as it was._

_A night before a heist all those years before._

_"Kai-"_

_"Shh… Listen to what I'm going to tell you. I know you won't understand but… Aoko," eyes that held more emotion then his poker face ever allowed._

_"I don't-"_

_"Don't try to understand. Just… trust me when I say I'm sorry-"_

_"Sorry? What did you do this time?"_

_"Just… Look. Please try and forgive me someday, alright?"_

_Always shadows._

_Always a poker face._

_Bright blue eyes that could see right through her._

_Ghosts._

* * *

Of course her father wanted her there for the unmasking of the great Kaitou KID. She wanted to go. She needed to see it with her own eyes, to let herself have that finality. Her body strummed with fear, but she could handle this much.

Too many ghosts, too many shadows lurking in the corner and waiting to come out and shatter her again and again until the pieces were thrown to the wind.

She had been dancing with shades for years, and felt their kisses too many times. She had teased and flirted with shadows far more dangerous. 

There was, after all, no greater thief than death, and while KID may have stolen her father, it was death that had carved out her heart.

She went anyway.

She stepped through the room, stepped through the doors, walked down the hall, and felt pain in every step.

She was calm, still, empty and any emotions threatening her were pushed away as she remembered the cold lips of the shadows that clung to her like spurned lovers.

There was the press. There was her father. There was each person in his or her consecutive space, while she waited.

She barely looked at the thief, with his dark hair and sharp eyes. She felt his gaze fall on her for a moment before being torn away and she saw his smirk falter. 

Death may be unconquerable, but at least some justice existed under the perpetual night.

She heard no words, just watched as her father announced the end.

She saw nothing, but sharp blue eyes met hers.

The dagger plunged straight into her heart.

Breath stopped-

Hat removed-

Body frozen-

Monocle off-

A cry broke through the room, filled with anguish, pain, and too many years of dwelling in the shadows.

A cry that echoed more pain then any human should ever suffer twice. 

The scream tore out of Aoko’s throat. 

Shock spread through the crowd that had come to watch. Silence falling through the bubbling noise of paparazzi, all brought by one singular cry. Anguish and pain melded as the grown woman dropped to her knees in recognition. 

Blue eyes met sapphires before looking away.

She cried.

For the first time since Kudo Shinichi had pronounced Kuroba Kaito dead…

Aoko wept.

Whether for sorrow, for joy, or for simply the feeling of life she felt tears roll down her cheeks.

Two blue eyes met hers filled with the same shadows that had plagued her, followed her footsteps.

Two blue eyes with the same tears that had been trying to fall long before she'd ever learned what Kaito's poker face truly meant.

" _Hello! I'm Kuroba Kaito!"_

_"Will you forgive-?"_

_"Will you forgive me?"_

For the first time in seven years Aoko knew that whether it was heaven, hell or just purgatory? She understood.

For the first time in seven years, the kiss of death was replaced by one much more sinister. After all, betrayal was a harsh mistress

And Death it seemed, was not the best thief of them all.


End file.
